Tag Archives: Jym Army

Today was Chest Day. If you’ve been paying attention to the workout routines, this one is quite unique. Jim Stoppani incorporates both linear progression and linear regression. Each odd week, weights increase and reps decrease. Each even week weights decrease and reps increase.

Today the workout concentrated on Back, Bicep, Forearm, and Calves. As a reminder, the Down and up Mass program is a 4-day workout per week. On the first and third days are Abdomen exercises. On the second and fourth days are calve workouts.

Also, you’ll notice that each exercise is only two documented sets. This workout hits muscles hard in the first and third week of each phase. This week, 2 sets are done, but the 2nd set is followed by a rest/pause set and a drop set to failure. So, 1 set of 11 reps; another set of 11 reps; followed by a rest/pause (about a 15-second rest) set of 11 reps (set #3), and then immediately following the rest pause is a drop set (drop 5-10 pounds) and work to failure. So, this routine is actually 64 total sets (32 are normal sets; 16 are rest/pause sets; 16 are drop sets to failure). The intensity of this workout is unbelievable! I woke up this morning feeling like someone had taken a baseball bat to my chest and triceps (from yesterday’s workout).

Today’s Workout

Deadlift 2 9-11 Whole Body 11/45.0 11/45.0

Barbell Bent-Over Row 2 9-11 Back 11/95.0 11/95.0

Seated Cable Row (Close) 2 9-11 Back 11/100.0 11/100.0

Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown 2 9-11 Back 11/100.0 11/100.0

Reverse-Grip Lat Pulldown 2 9-11 Back 11/100.0 11/100.0

Straight-Arm Pulldown 2 9-11 Back 11/40.0 11/40.0

Standing Barbell Curl 2 9-11 Biceps 11/45.0 11/45.0

Incline Dumbbell Curl 2 9-11 Biceps 11/20.0 11/20.0

High Cable Curl 2 9-11 Biceps 11/10.0 11/10.0

Prone Incline Dumbbell Curl 2 9-11 Biceps 11/15.0 11/15.0

Hammer Curl 2 9-11 Biceps 11/20.0 11/20.0

Barbell Wrist Curl 2 9-11 Forearms 11/30.0 11/30.0

Barbell Reverse Wrist Curl 2 9-11 Forearms 11/20.0 11/20.0

Standing Calf Raise 2 9-11 Calves 11/208.0 11/208.0

Seated Calf Raise 2 9-11 Calves 11/208.0 11/208.0

Cable Toe Raise 2 9-11 Calves 11/20.0 11/20.0

Since Sunday is Father’s Day, I’ll be working shoulders tomorrow and then take Father’s day off. Hope everyone is having a great Friday!

Ok folks! Here’s the new program. I decided to continue to bulk up and chose another one of Jim Stoppani’s (www.jimstoppani.com) workouts. This one is called Down and Up Mass. This program is quite unique in that it utilizes two of Jim’s favorite torture techniques. The Rest/Pause and the Drop Set.

Rest Pause is used on the final of two sets. This means you rest for a few seconds and then bang out another set. Then, once you’ve hit failure, you drop some weight (10-20%) and do another set to failure. Sounds fun huh? It was, but it was brutal. That’s ok though. The muscles loved the pump.

More to follow folks!

Today’s workout!

Bench Press 2 9-11 Chest 11/110.0 11/110.0

Reverse-Grip Bench Press 2 9-11 Chest 11/80.0 11/80.0

Incline Dumbbell Press 2 9-11 Chest 11/40.0 11/40.0

Dumbbell Fly 2 9-11 Chest 11/35.0 11/35.0

Cable Crossover (High Pulley) 2 9-11 Chest 11/22.5 11/22.5

Close-Grip Bench Press 2 9-11 Triceps 11/45.0 11/45.0

Dumbbell Overhead Extension 2 9-11 Triceps 11/45.0 11/45.0

Lying Triceps Extension 2 9-11 Triceps 11/50.0 11/50.0

Triceps Press down 2 9-11 Triceps 11/57.5 11/57.5

Dumbbell Triceps Kickback 2 9-11 Triceps 11/12.5 11/12.5

Smith Machine Hip Thrust 2 9-11 Abs 11/90.0 11/90.0

Smith Machine Crunch 2 9-11 Abs 11/20.0 11/20.0

Standing Cable Oblique

Press down 2 9-11 Abs 11/25.0 11/25.0

Documentation

In case your new to my blog, you read the above like this: Exercise name 2 Sets of 9-11 repetitions body part attacked and the number of reps and pounds.

The part I do not document on this workout is the rest/pause and drop set at the end of the 2nd set, where I literally continue to push the weight until I can no longer hold good form. Failure is not necessarily an inability to move the weight, it is more about keeping good form. When I lose good form, I stop.

Another note

When starting a new workout routine, I always begin a little light, just to get used to the exercises and volume of sets. The Rest/Pause and Drop Set work in this week will occur again on Week 3 of the first phase of this workout routine composed of 4 weeks. We alternate the rest/pause drop set routine to avoid overtraining and allow the muscle a good 7 days to recover. On week 2 and 4 we utilize another technique. I’ll talk about this when we start moving through week 2.

Today’s workout is Day 4 Week 1 Phase 2 of Jim Stoppani’s Shortcut to Size (www.jimstoppani.com). This workout works in three 4-week cycles starting on week 1 with rep ranges of 12-15. All exercises this week will be in the 12-15 range. Today was the final weight lifting workout for the week. Week 2 starts next Monday.

This workout attacks the Quadriceps and Hamstrings hitting both on the Squat, concentrating on the Quads with Front Squats and Leg Extensions. We attack the Hamstrings with Romanian Deadlifts and Standing 1 Leg Curls. You’ll notice that the 1 leg curl weight is quite low. This is purposeful, as I have nerve damage in my left leg from a major back surgery in 2003 that left me with a weaker left leg. It is not impossible to train, but the progress on my left leg is much slower than my right, which was unaffected. Subsequently, my left leg dictates the weight my right leg will lift so I don’t end up looking lopsided with my right leg looking larger than the left. Note: This only affects the back side of my leg. The nerves running down the front of my left leg are also unaffected. Finally, we wrap up the workout with another day of abdominals, attacking the lower abs with leg lifts, the upper and mid abs with Crunches, and the entire core with planks. The goal by the end of this 12-week program is to hit 3 sets of 75 seconds on the planks (40 seconds kicked my butt today).

Current Bodyweight

My current weight is 235lbs and I am 6’ tall. The goal is to be around 245-250 by the end of this 12-week workout and maintaining my body fat percentage, which is around 20%. This is higher than I’d like, but during any bulking phase, it is quite common to gain some body fat or stay where you started because of a large amount of food a mass building program requires.

My Macros

My current macros were calculated using Jim Stoppani’s recommendations. He recommends 1.5 to 2.0 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight, .5 grams of fat per pound of bodyweight, and 2.0 grams of carbohydrates per pound of bodyweight. Since I am trying to maintain my body fat percentage, I’ve reduced the carbohydrate intake to 1.0 gram of carbs per pound of bodyweight.

235lbs (current weight)

235 x 1.5 = 352.5 grams of protein per day

235 x 1 = 235 grams of carbohydrates per day

235 x .5 = 117.5 grams of fat per day (rounded to 117 for ease of tracking)

Yesterday’s macros

208g of Carbohydrates; 124g of fat; 118g of Protein. Still dealing with being bound up. I added flax seed to my oatmeal in the morning to cure this. Again, another day without protein supplements in light of this blockage and let my digestive system catch up.

I use my MyFitnessPal (I the iTunes App Store) to track my macros each day.

Supplements and Water intake

Water

Water intake is more than a gallon a day. I drink a gallon of water just with my pre-workout, during-workout, and post-workout drinks. The rest of my water intake is around my meals (six in total each day).